Energetica India Magazine May - June 2026

Managing Director and CEO REPLUS Engitech HIREN PRAVIN SHAH Q How is REPLUS positioning itself in an increasingly com- petitive and evolving clean energy market? Hiren Pravin Shah: At REPLUS, our growth is anchored in two equally important priorities: energy storage systems and e-mobility solutions. As the market evolves, we believe long- term differentiation will come from building dependable, in- tegrated systems that perform in real operating conditions. That is why our positioning is centred on engineering-led solutions, backed by advanced battery pack design, BMS and EMS capabilities, and not just product assembly. We work across mobility and stationary applications, backed by in-house capabilities in battery management, energy man- agement, and state-of-the-art manufacturing. That matters because customers today are looking beyond specifications. They want safety, lifecycle confidence, serviceability, and sys - tem-level performance. We operate a fully automated 1 GWh facility in Pune, scalable to 5 GWh, have deployed 100 MWh of BESS projects, and have supplied over 500 EV battery packs. Q Grid stability is becoming a key concern with higher re- newable penetration. How do you assess India’s readiness on this front? Hiren Pravin Shah: India is now fully aware that renewable expansion without balancing capacity will create stress in the system. So, the issue is no longer whether storage is needed, but whether deployment can keep pace with the grid’s chang- ing requirements. The clearest sign of readiness is in national planning itself. The CEA’s projections show a storage requirement of 16.13 GW/82.37 GWh by 2026–27, rising sharply to 73.93 GW/411.4 GWh by 2031–32. Of that, 47.24 GW/236.22 GWh is expect- ed to come from BESS. That tells us that the policy and planning framework has moved ahead. What now matters is the speed of execution. In my view, India is directionally ready, but the next phase has to be about implementation at a meaningful scale. Q How do you see the economics of energy storage evolving in India in the near to medium term? Hiren Pravin Shah: The economics are moving from being subsidy-led to value-led, and that is an important shift. Ear- lier, storage was often seen mainly through the lens of up- front cost. That view is changing as the grid, utilities, and industrial users begin to value flexibility, peak management, renewable integration, and resilience more seriously. You can see that in both policy design and product development. At the national level, large projected storage requirements already point to where the market is headed. At the compa- ny level, REPLUS has moved towards larger-format BESS offerings like the RE5K, a 5.01 MWh containerised system designed with more than 10,000 cycles and a 20-year service life. As system performance improves and deployment scales, the economics will increasingly be judged by lifecycle value, not just acquisition cost. Q Electrification of heavy-duty transport is gaining mo - mentum. How do you view the role of e-trucks in India’s decarbonisation journey? I ndia is now fully aware that renewable expansion with- out balancing capacity will create stress in the system. So, the issue is no longer whether storage is needed, but whether deployment can keep pace with the grid’s chang- ing requirements, said Hiren Pravin Shah, MD and CEO, REPLUS Engitech, in an interview with Energetica India. 22 energetica INDIA- May-June_2026 INTERVIEW